Cherry, Arugula and Quinoa Salad

Last week, I was so busy posting peach recipes that I failed to mention the massive bag of cherries I was snacking on in real life. I don’t think we’ll have a full-blown cherry week, but I do have several cherry recipes up my sleeve.

Today, I thought I’d share my new favorite summer salad. Seriously packed with flavor, it’s composed of peppery arugula, warm black quinoa, goat cheese, and gorgeous dark red cherries, tossed with an easy balsamic vinaigrette. If you can hunt down cherries before the end of summer, make this salad—you don’t want to wait another year for it!

Cherry, Arugula and Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

Dressing

Salad

One handful of dark cherries, pitted and sliced in half

Goat cheese crumbles

Arugula

Cooked quinoa (red or black is preferable to white quinoa)

Instructions

Cook the quinoa: measure out one cup of quinoa, pour into a colander, and rinse the quinoa under water for a minute. Pour the rinsed quinoa into a pot and add two cups water (you’re going for a 1:2 ratio of quinoa and water). Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes. Remove from heat, let sit for a few minutes, and fluff with a fork.

Assemble your salad: whisk together the dressing ingredients and toss with several handfuls of arugula. Add slightly warm quinoa, a good sprinkle of goat cheese, and cherries.

Notes

Inspired by Kiss My Spatula’s Wild Arugula-Quinoa Salad with Cherries.Make just one serving: One cup of uncooked quinoa will yield enough cooked quinoa for about 3 or 4 salads. I like to have leftovers around for breakfast, but feel free to use ½ cup quinoa and one cup water if you don’t want much extra.Make it dairy free: Just omit the cheese!

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #cookieandkate.

another great recipe using quinoa, kate! :) its funny that even tho its still winter here, i am beginning to see more and more cherries at my supermarket! i can imagine they go really well with the goats cheese!!
btw, all your peach recipe photos look so dreamy :)

Looks great! I am a vegan but I do want to find something with a similar quality to the goat cheese. (I have tried the Vegan Artisan Cheese recipe, but it’s too hot to make rejuvelac that is any good here in NM in July!) I was wondering if you have a simple suggestion of what to put in the salad that would have the same sort of contrast to the other ingredients.

Hmmm. Amy, I wish I had a great suggestion! I’m stumped on this one. Feta is really salty, so in Mexican recipes I recommend adding pickled jalapenos in place of the cheese, and in Greek recipes, I say olives, but I’m not quite sure what would play well here. Sometimes a little bit of mellow white miso can take a recipe over the top, so you could try adding just a tiny bit to the dressing? Maybe?